Ru Coming Out?
WE LOOK AT HOW YOU TACKLED THE WHOLE COMING OUT THING
KELLY WHIPPLE, 48, SWITZERLAND
When I came out in the 1980s, my mother only had two points of reference with regards to homosexuality: Boy George and the AIDS epidemic. Both of which, in her eyes, were terrifying.
The two of us were having lunch at a posh restaurant in the city’s financial core. My mother had finished her sermon about marriage, the lack of it in my life, and concluded that at twenty-two I was getting too close to the realm of expired goods. My little sister had just plundered down the aisle, a year after my brother, and I was the oldest of the three and still single. The situation wasn’t acceptable in her view of the world: men need a wife like cars need petrol; it’s a symbiotic relationship and simply how the world worked. She summarised, saying, “Well, it’s all about you finding the right woman before it’s too late”.